Dynamics of Geared Systems
Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity as a function of time and it is vector. Acceleration is the second derivative of position with respect to time or, alternately, the first derivative of the velocity with respect to time.
The kinetic energy of an object is the energy which it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity.
The angular motion is one type of motion in which a body acts as a radius and all parts of the moving body rotate in the same angular direction and follow a circular path about a pivot point.
Linear motion is motion along a straight line, and can therefore be described mathematically using only one spatial dimension.
Acceleration of geared systems, and analysing combined angular and linear motions.
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Introduction
When a geared system accelerates or decelerates there is a change in the total inertia of the system. Clearly, the value of this increase or decrease depends upon the speed ratios of the various parts of the system.
In this section we use the moments of inertia of geared shafts to identify the total torque and the Equivalent moment of Inertia for any given shaft in a state of acceleration.
The Acceleration of Geared Systems
- Suppose that two shafts
and
are geared together and the speed ratio
is
- The total moments of inertia on the shafts are
and
It is required to find an expression for the torque on shaft
which will produce an angular acceleration of this shaft of

- The torque on shaft
required to accelerate
is
- This will produce an acceleration of shaft
of
- The torque required on shaft
to achieve the above acceleration on
is
- This would require a torque on shaft
of
- The Total torque on
is thus given by:
is called the Equivalent moment of Inertia referred to shaft
.
Clearly the argument above could be extended to any number of shafts which have fixed speed ratios with the reference shaft. It is worth noting that the same acceleration of the system shown in the above diagram could be produced by a torque applied to shaft of:
The Total Kinetic Energy of A and B
The Total Kinetic Energy of and
But since ,
Combined Angular and Linear Motion
There are many cases where masses moving with linear motion are connected by a fixed speed ratio to inertias in angular motion. Instead of dealing with the two motions separately, it is possible to reduce the system to one of the following:
An equivalent angular motion
To find the torque required to give an angular acceleration of to the winding drum of moment of inertia
and radius
, which is being used to raise a load
on a cable wrapped round the drum.
This method is used in worked examples 2, 7, and 8.
An equivalent linear motion
The linear acceleration on the level of a car of weight and engine torque
, whose wheels have an inertia of
and radius
, and an engine with an inertia
and a gear ration
, is found from:
The equivalent tractive effort =
= Acceleration Equivalent mass + Losses
Losses
See Example 9.


